Strategies for Lifting Spirits Are Emerging From Studies

By DANIEL GOLEMAN

Published: December 30, 1992

IN a foul mood? Try comparing yourself with someone worse off, or giving yourself a treat. These are among the more successful tactics emerging from research on the methods people use to shake off gloom, anxiety and anger.

The ability to get out of foul moods is a mark of mental well-being. But new studies show that people differ greatly in their talent at making themselves feel better, with many people habitually turning to tactics that fail or backfire.

Three days of bad moods out of 10 is about average, according to new findings, with just 2 percent of people in cheerful moods nearly every day, and about 5 percent having bad moods on four of five days.

Psychologists hope the recent research on everyday moods will pay off in more effective methods for people whose inability to shake bad moods makes them susceptible to chronic mild depression, nearly continuous tension or bouts of rage. Importance of Technique

"Some people just aren't very adept at getting out of bad moods," said Dr. Roy Baumeister, a psychologist at Case Western Reserve University who has done some of the research on moods. "They tend to keep on using techniques that don't work all that well."

People say they have more ways to escape sadness and seem to have more success doing so than they do for anger, which seems the hardest mood to shake, according to findings by Dr. Diane Tice, a psychologist at Case Western University.

In research with more than 400 men and women, from 16 to 75, Dr. Tice studied the many strategies people use to get out of bad moods and how successful those tactics were.

"About 5 percent of people say they never try to change their moods on the grounds that emotions are natural and should be experienced no matter how unpleasant they are," Dr. Tice said. "And some people, like bill collectors, reported purposely setting out to make themselves grouchy in order to be better at their jobs."

The single most popular way to shake sadness, Dr. Tice's research showed, is to turn to the company of others. "But it doesn't work if you just get together and talk about what's getting you down," she said. "It's far better to focus on something else."

Exercise is another common antidote for the blues. This approach seems to work for physiological reasons. "Depression is a low arousal state, and exercise increases your arousal level," Dr. Tice said.

Several studies with mildly depressed men and women have shown that beginning regular aerobic exercise can lift the depression. But exercise has its limits as a mood-lifter. Research by Dr. Randy Larsen, a psychologist at the University of Michigan, done with Dr. Margaret Kasimatis at Hope College, found that for people who do aerobic exercise daily, there is little effect on their mood.

"People who work out the most, who are aerobically fit already, don't get into better moods when they exercise, but they do get irritable and cranky on days they don't exercise," Dr. Larsen said. "It's sedentary people who get the biggest boost in mood when they exercise."

As one might expect, sensual pleasures offer another antidote for depression. "Taking a hot bath is a way many people soothe themselves when depressed, as is making love or listening to some favorite piece of music," Dr. Tice said.

But eating a favorite food, another popular antidote to depression, does not work so well. In a study of 120 college students, Dr. Tice found this strategy is preferred by about three times as many women as men. Drinking and drug-taking, which also backfire as mood-lifters, are preferred by five times as many men as women.

"Drinking or drugs lift a bad mood in the short term, but later people often report feeling worse than before," Dr. Larsen said. In his research 60 men and women filled out reports twice a day on their moods and what they had done to change them.

Mental maneuvers work for many people. Among them, Dr. Larsen found, are reminding oneself of successes, resolving to do better in the future, thinking of people who are worse off and indulging in a treat. Perhaps most effective is trying to change whatever is causing the bad mood, Dr. Larsen said.

Engineering an easy success is often effective. "A small challenge you can work hard at and take pleasure in accomplishing -- especially something you've been wanting to get to -- usually lifts a bad mood," Dr. Tice said. "Household chores like fixing up the kids' room or cleaning your desk work well."

Buying a gift for yourself is often effective. Shopping is a tactic used more often by women than men. "Some people say just window-shopping lifts their spirits, while for others it's buying themselves a spur-of-the-moment gift," Dr. Tice said.

Distractions are also appealing. But Dr. Larsen found that losing oneself in television, movies or magazines offered only short-term mood change. Although not always effective, such distractions were one of the most common ways people sought to shake bad moods.

"Many people said fantasizing about dream vacations cheered them up when they were depressed," Dr. Tice said, "and escapist distractions do seem to ease anger, if they keep your mind off what's provoking you."